Growing Coffee

[dbjay417]

I'm waiting on some Arabica coffee cherries to arrive in the mail and i intend to plant 10-15 next month and was wondering if on the off chance, some one had words of advice or pointers for growing coffee. I've read a number of websites, but i find that when it comes to gardening and farming the best information is first hand information.

 

[Reinbeau]

Oooh, I have no advice on growing coffee, but you're definitely in a good area to try it! I'll be very interested in how it works for you. Post pictures! :watering

 

[Rosalind]

My grad school advisor used to grow coffee where he grew up in Jamaica. That was their cash crop. He said he hated it so much that he and his siblings would uproot the bushes and go hungry rather than pick coffee berries. Apparently they need weeded all the time and you have to stoop because the berries grow low to the ground, and you really have to look for the buggers. So his recommendation was, grow tea instead (can be picked from a comfortable position). But with only 10-15 plants, that's not so bad. Supposedly they like light shade, and in Jamaica they are grown underneath banana trees as a sort of underplanting.

 

[dbjay417]

lOl one mans work is another mans hobby. thanks for the insite. My grandfather grew coffee and tobacco on this property 30 years ago, and I thought it would be swell to plant some coffee, since tobacco is a controlled substance.

I got dwarf arabica cherries, so i was expecting to be crouching or on my knees.

I'm pondering planting it in five gallon pales with the bottoms cut out, to allow the roots to expand and give the plant a little height, keeping the cherries off the ground.

 

[dbjay417]

My coffee arrived yesterday!!

I'll be purchasing a number of 3 gallon pots this comming week and my coffee seeds will be sown shortly after.

If they grow well and in full numbers, I might consider selling some of them forward when they grow out.